How to Identify a Minor Official of the late Mughal Court?

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Hello- I posted the query 3 months ago and never heard a single answer. i

realize

that this list is dvoted to "classical" Indian studies, but wonder if that means

it

procludes anything relating to Mughal or other Muslim rulers from being

discussed?

Perhaps this is not the right forum to ask this particular question, however if

someone would be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I would be very

much

appreciative.

 

Regards and Happy New Year,

 

Jake Benson

 

 

Greetings,

 

I have been researching a pair of contracts from the Minassian

Collection at the Library of Congress. They are a wedding proposal and

subsequent contract for an individual named Qayyim Khan. The pieces

date to the early 18th century, and are written in Persian over a blank

blocked-out area of marbled paper, with floral designs and other motifs

all outlined in gold.

 

I have been unable to find any reference to this man. Ironically, I was

astonished to find a manuscript dealer offering another piece on Ebay

that is reputedly associated with the same man. In the description ,

the dealer stated that Qayyim Khan was an official in the court of

Muhammad Shah. The seal on this document is very differnt from the contracts in

the Minassian collection, but date to the same period. Whiel the seal on the

Miinassian contracts are personal, these are presumably related to an important

official. Unfortunately the dealer would not divulge his source to me- rather

they

only wanted me to buy the manuscript, and THEN tell me....which I could not

afford to

do.

 

Is there a good resource for identifying court dignitaries, provincial

officials, sub-imperial court officers in the late Mughal period? These

documents

date to the early 18th century.

 

Unfortunately the Minassian collection at the Library of Congress remains

upublished,

so I cannot direct list memebers to an image or catalog.

 

PS- I am also researching manuscript production in the court of Adbur Rahim

Khan-e

Khana, the padishah Akbar's favored general. Portions of the chronicle of his

court,

known as the Ma'aser-i Rahimi were translated into English in the 1920's by M.

Mahful ul Haq, but I haven't found if the entire work was translated or not.

Are there

any authoritative works on the Khan-e Khanan, his life, activites, and

accomplishments? I've been doing google searches, but it is difficult due to

the many

varian t ways of spelling these names.

 

 

regards,

 

Jake Benson